Posts Tagged ‘college tax credit’

My 19 year old son is a full time college student with a part time job (working 8 hours a week). Can we deduct any books or school fees as our dependent?

Books are deductible if required for a class at an accredited college. The books are added to your tuition in the American Opportunity Credit (AOC). Use Form 8863, Education Credits and attach it to Form 1040 or 1040A.

Thank you very much for the information provided here. I have a 19 year old who worked last year part-time and earned $3000 dollars and a 25 year old college student who also worked part time last year and earned$ 3000 dollars.

My question is if they file their own tax, do they qualify for their college credit, or do I need to request the credit on mine?

Please help (me) to understand. Thank you!

Ivette

Dear Ivette,
You’re very welcome!

Chances are that your 25 year old son is no longer eligible to be your dependent.

To be a dependent your child must meet all the IRS dependency tests and:

“must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year”

But if your 19 year old son passes the dependency tests (and he probably does), then you claim the college credit on your tax return when he goes to college.

Note: There are several tax credits for college: The American Opportunity Credit, the Life Time Learning Credit and the Tuition Tax deduction.

Funny system, huh? A teenager files his own tax return, but his parents can claim him as a dependent and claim the college tax credit.

Fine with me! I have two kids in college!

Carol Topp, CPA

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